Hi everyone!
I am SOOOO sorry for the long wait! I've been very much busy with lots of things, like competitions and mid year exams, and preparing for my appeal to get into a college next year.
I've also been suffering from a major writer's block, and only recently managed to think of what to write next! I'm sooo sorry for such a wait!
Anyway, I really love to get reviews from you guys, it really really REALLY makes my day! I love to hear feedback on my writing so that I can improve in my writing, so please do drop me a review so that I know what is it I'm doing right or wrong!
Time to answer my reviews! :)
Fluer Moonrose Lampourge : Thank you very much! :) Glad you enjoyed it!
Jessluvswriting : Hehe I don't remember that! Really gotta start catching up on the chapters again! :)
Tikarose : Thank you! Yeah I had to do something to get the plot moving. I don't really want to stray much from the original story so I have to keep referring to the story! Hehe! :)
Sarinafu : Ah my dear, we're not really sure Haru is in love with her yet! It IS implied, but then again, he still has an old beau to take care of! Yes I really loved the idea of over-protective older brother, since my own is sooo not over protective. Hehe! Thank you so much! I'm glad you like my story! :)
Meg L.H : Yea there's not really a cliffhanger because I'm following the original story's plot. Oh the nationwide competition is just a once-every-two-years competition for all performing arts in my country! I'm in the Choir, so it's like a competition to test how good our choir is. You should try posting up the stories! Who knows, people might like them! And if you do post some stories, I'll be sure to go and check them out, especially if they're stories of the mangas I've read before :) Thank you very much for all your support!
Saki Chie : I'll try to as fast as I can :)
Lizzie-Lizzard : This chapter will explain exactly why he got mad! Though Rin's plan is not yet revealed. I'm glad you like my story! :)
Shifuni : Thank you! :)
TheAnnoyingOne97 : I'm so glad you like the story! :) Yes, I'll try to update as fast as I can :)
kishe : Sure! :) Thanks!
Please enjoy this chapter! It's more of a filler chapter yet again, to try and bring the story more into the original story's plot. But I did add a few touches of my own, so I do hope you like it!
Please be patient with my updating skills. It's really difficult what with my nationwide exams coming up (I'm going to college next year), and I just can't find the time to write as much as I would like to.. I hope you'll still continue supporting me though! :)
Enjoy this chapter! :D See you at the end of it!
Disclaimer : I do not own Fruits Basket!
Chapter 11 : Transformation
"Eh Kairi-san, aren't you coming?" Tohru asked, looking at the girl in question as she stood rooted to the floor, staring at the ground in thought. Kairi look up from her shoes, gave her a small smile and shook her head slightly.
"No, I'm not going. I'm going to help clean up this mess," she replied, hand gesturing to the broken window glass, overturned tables and broken chairs. "You go on ahead with the boys, Honda-san." Tohru nodded, and jogged a little to catch up with the boys who had yet to notice the blonde's absence.
Kairi turned around, facing the mess in slight apprehension, before grabbing a broom at the side of the classroom, and starting to sweep all the dirt up. Suddenly, the door to the classroom slid opened, and a few of her female classmates walked in, jumping up slightly in surprise at seeing the blonde still inside the dark classroom.
"Sohma-chan, didn't you go off with Hatsuharu-san and the rest?" a girl, Kairi recognized as Kinamoto Ryoko, asked cautiously, a little afraid of the blonde. She did seem rather unapproachable, what with all the protection she'd been given from her family members.
Kairi shook her head with a smile. "No, I'm going to tidy up the room as much as I can."
There was a slight pause. "Let us help you!" another girl, Watanuki Rena, exclaimed, moving to grab some more brooms from the side of the classroom. Her other friends began to pick up the fallen tables and chairs.
Kairi smiled slightly, happy at the opportunity to maybe make some new friends.
"Arigato (Thanks)!"
"I wonder if Hatsuharu-san is okay…" Tohru worried her bottom lip, Momiji's head leaning on her shoulder while her hand clasped his tightly. He squeezed her hand encouragingly, trying to stop her from panicking too much.
"He's probably getting lectured," Kyo snorted, rolling his stiff shoulders as an attempt to loosen them a little. Oh how much he needed a massage. Maybe Kairi could give him one when they went home; her massages have always been the best cure for any aches, ever since they were young.
"What could've happened to turn him black, Momiji?" Yuki asked, leaning against the wall nonchalantly, turning to look at the younger boy, who started worrying his lip, trying to remember.
"Ehhh I didn't see everything so I don't know…" Momiji trailed off, placing a finger on his chin in thought. "He was acting normal before… But something may have happened because recently… He seems somewhat depressed."
Speak of the devil and he will come.
Haru strolled out of the room, and after awhile of questioning about what had happened, the cow strolled off coolly, mumbling something under his breath about finding Kairi. He stuck his hands into his pocket and his posture showed that he was seemingly undisturbed by the recent turn of events, even though his parents were to meet with the Principal in a few hour's time, and he probably would have a lifetime worth of punishments as retribution for the disaster that he had caused.
"Will he be alright by himself?" Tohru worried. Never before had she seen anyone so nonchalant about a situation such as this. If she didn't know any better, it was almost as if it was just a façade to fool everyone into believing that he was alright. But this was Hatsuharu, he would surely be unfazed by this… Right?
"I'll go," Yuki volunteered, making his way to his cousin. "Honda-san, I'm sorry. Please go home ahead of me." With that, he too stalked after the other, walking at a much quicker pace than the former. Tohru stared after them, eyebrows furrowed into a frown, mouth open as if she wanted to say something.
"Let them be, let them be…" Kyo kicked himself off the wall he was leaning on, leaving a dirty black footprint on the already dirtied wall. "I'm going too. I'll be late getting to the Dojo." He cracked his knuckles and attempted to give a massage to his sore shoulder.
"Yuki's probably the most suitable among us," Momiji assured Tohru, tugging on her hand, urging her to go. After a moment of consideration, Tohru nodded her head slowly in agreement, but the uneasy feeling in her heart didn't leave.
"By the way, you shouldn't get so close to him when he's black," Kyo warned. "You really can't protect yourself at such times." He tried to wear a nonchalant face but failed miserably, his true intention showing clearly for all to see.
Tohru was, however, one of the densest human beings on Earth, and didn't catch his drift. "Eh? But… I don't want to be rude to Hatsuharu-san…" She shook her head lightly, as if she couldn't even fathom the thought of being rude to him. She probably couldn't be rude to anyone in the world even if she tried her hardest.
A sweat drop appeared on Kyo's head as he sighed in exasperation. "He's the rude one you know?"
Momiji stood there with a poker face, staring at the bickering couple. Or more like a steadily growing angry Kyo and a confused Tohru. Suddenly, his face contorted into a cheeky grin. "I DON'T LIKE IT!" he exclaimed loudly all of a sudden, causing the two to jump up in surprise and spin around quickly to look at him oddly.
"That's what Kyo's trying to say!" His poker face faded to his normal innocent look, and suddenly a pink, flowery heart appeared in the background behind him. Tohru rubbed her eyes in confusion, wondering to herself if she was seeing things, while Kyo paid no heed to it.
Kyo's face quickly turned into an angry red, and Momiji quickly noticed it, plugging his ear tightly as the former shouted loudly, "MOMIJI! GET OUT OF HERE! DON'T SAY SUCH USELESS THINGS!"
A lone figure stood outside the classroom, staring through the broken glass, looking at the clean floor and upright tables. Yuki caught up with him and stood beside him silently, wondering what Haru was doing, looking into the classroom. Maybe the former had saw Kairi. He glanced in but saw no one, only neat rows of tables.
"I thought I'd clean up the classroom but it's already done…" Haru answered his cousin's silent question. He paused for awhile, as if in thought, before looking up to the ceiling. "Fairies really do exist…" He stared dreamily at the ceiling, as if looking at some higher being up in Heaven.
Yuki sweatdropped. "No… Kai and some girls in your class cleaned it up," he replied and quickly continued before Haru could ask where his beloved cousin was. "More importantly, you…"
"You should call her Tohru," Haru interrupted, looking down at his shoes. "You have no problem about calling Kairi as suchi. So you should do the same for Tohru as well. They are both girls, after all."
Yuki looked stunned for awhile, as if he didn't believe what his cousin was saying. His face quickly contorted to one of anger. "You're wrong! You shouldn't be thinking of me, I don't matter right now. Right now you should concentrate on yourself, Haru!" Yuki felt himself yell, fists balling, knuckles white from clenching his fist too tightly.
Haru turned his surprised grey eyes to look at the violet ones belonging to his older cousin. He didn't expect Yuki to act so violently to his statement. "You're always like this, Haru… You're always worrying about others… While I… I can only think of myself." Yuki broke the eye contact, turning his head away in shame, and cast his eyes to look at his shoes.
Haru gave him a confused look, though the older one didn't see it as he was too busy admiring his shoes. "Huh… You say that you can only think of yourself? Such a person, wouldn't have been worried about me and come after me." This caused a surprised Yuki to turn back to the cow, who met his eyes once more. "Thank you… Besides, I'm the selfish one. I only think of myself. If I didn't, I wouldn't become Black and be violent.
"I've… I've been dumped," he whispered, leaning against the wall and slumped his shoulders, as if in defeat. He was finally admitting it, meaning that there would be no more reasons to be in denial or lie to himself for, because he was finally saying it out with a witness at hand. "When I was rejected, at that moment, I didn't feel anything. But as the days went by, I managed to rile myself up a little and I became irritated. And then I couldn't control myself…"
"So Akito…" Yuki trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging. He didn't need to finish his sentence, for Haru already knew what he was about to say. A heavy silence filled the air between the two, as if daring either one to break it.
"Our dating was a secret between the two of us. Although Sensei might have known… This is the first time I've ever talked about it because, we're both Juunishi," Haru slid down to the floor and rested his head against his hand. At that moment, in Yuki's eyes, the tough gangster was reduced to a small, insecure child. Yuki felt much sympathy for the younger; he had really cherished his relationship with Rin. "Ever since she got hurt, she's changed… Whenever I went to visit her at the hospital, she wouldn't be in her room. It was as if she was avoiding me completely… I didn't know what she was thinking about and then she dumped me…"
The haunting words floated into Haru's head. 'I don't need you anymore. I'm tired of you.' He felt his heart clench in pain as he doubled up to rest his hands on his knees.
"Why..?" he whispered so softly that Yuki thought that he might have imagined it. His eyes rested on his younger cousin, filled with pity and empathy for him. "But even so… I still want to see her." Memories of them together flashed in his mind's eye, coming to rest on the two of them happily walking down the street, hand in hand.
Yuki shifted uncomfortably in the silence, unsure of exactly what to say to comfort the younger. "… So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going… to be scolded for making such a mess of a classroom," he muttered, staring up at the mouse. "No… They'll probably laugh at me." He added softly.
Yuki felt a sweatdrop hang on his temple. "That's not what I meant," he deadplanned.
"Yeah, what should I do?" he trailed off, focusing his attention to the end of the corridor to his left.
A familiar figure was stalking towards them, hair swishing slightly as she strolled. Haru gave a small smile to Kairi and she returned it, stretching her hand towards him to help him off the ground. He took it and stood up, not releasing the grip on her hand.
"I cleaned up the class…" she said conversationally. "Your bags are still on the table." The two of them nodded, and they slowly made their way into the class.
Suddenly, quick footsteps sounded towards the three, and Kairi felt her hand being yanked violently away from her cousins and towards a torso.
The next few seconds passed by in slow motion.
Kairi's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, as she glanced up and took a look at her attacker. It was Hojo Takashi.
She felt a familiar weird feeling engulf her senses, and dreadfully anticipated the reaction that Takashi would definitely have if he saw her transform.
A loud pop sounded throughout the corridors.
Oh my! Will someone find out about the Sohma family secret? What exactly is Kairi's transformation form like?
Please Read & Review! Constructive criticism is welcomed!
(Author's Note : Edited too!)
